お / ご Japanese Grammar Lesson
Grammar Type: Prefix
Essential Meaning: Prefix indicating politeness
Construction:
- お / ご + (い-Adjective / な-Adjective)
- E.g. お暑い [Hot]
- E.g. ご丁寧 [Polite]
- お / ご + Noun
- E.g. お弁当 [Bento]
- E.g. ご飯 [Food / Rice]
Notes:
- お is used with nouns, adjectives, and verbs to express politeness, humility, and respect (the polite / humble verb forms お~になる and お~する are discussed separately). ご means the same thing as お, but is used with Chinese-origin words (more about that below).
- お + Adjective is always used in a polite sense (as opposed to a humble sense). In other words, when affixed to an adjective, お is used to praise someone else and not to denigrate oneself.
- E.g. Simple Polite (i.e. generally polite): 毎日お暑いですね。[It’s hot every day, isn’t it?]
- E.g. Honorific Polite (i.e. to honor someone of higher social status): 上田さんはテニスがお上手ですね。[Ueda-san is good at tennis, isn’t he?]
- お + Noun is can express either politeness OR humility.
- E.g. Simple Polite: お野菜が高くなりましたね。[The vegetables have gotten expensive, haven’t they?]
- E.g. Honorific Polite: 先生がお手紙をくださいました。[The teacher gave me a letter.]
- E.g. Humble Polite (i.e. self-denigrating): 明日お電話をさしあげます。[I will call you tomorrow.]
- Some nouns always take お / ご regardless of context.
- E.g. お腹 [Stomach]
- E.g. ご飯 [Rice / Food]
- There are some restrictions for using お /ご. Namely, お / ご can not be attached to the following types of words:
- (1) Adjectives and nouns that begin with お
- E.g. *おおもしろい [Interesting]
- E.g. *おおいしい [Delicious]
- E.g. *おおおきい [Big]
- E.g. *おおじさん [Uncle]
- E.g. *おおび [Belt]
- (2) Long words (longer than ~2 syllables)
- E.g. *おジャガイモ [Potato]
- E.g. *おほうれんそう [Spinach]
- (3) Foreign loan words (except for certain idiomatic exceptions)
- E.g. *おエレベーター [Elevator]
- E.g. *おクリスマス [Christmas]
- E.g. *おバター [Butter]
- Exceptions: おビール [Beer], おタバコ [Tobacco] These are examples of loan words that are so commonplace in Japanese that they are generally regarded as native Japanese words.
- (1) Adjectives and nouns that begin with お
- Generally speaking, お is used for Japanese origin words and ご is used for Chinese origin words. But there are a handful of notable exceptions. A distinguishing feature of Chinese-origin words is that they lack any trailing hiragana (AKA okurigana), whereas Japanese-origin words typically contain okurigana.
- Words that take ご:
- (1) Most Chinese-origin な-Adjectives:
- E.g.ご親切 [Kind]
- E.g. ご丁寧 [Polite]
- E.g. ご便利 [Convenient]
- (2) Most Chinese origin Nouns:
- E.g. ご研究 [Research]
- E.g. ご結婚 [Marriage]
- E.g. ご本 [Book]
- (1) Most Chinese-origin な-Adjectives:
- Words that take お:
- (1) All い-Adjectives that don’t begin with お
- E.g. お寒い [Cold]
- E.g. お暑い [Hot]
- (2) Japanese-origin な-Adjectives
- E.g. おきれい [Pretty]
- (3) A handful of Chinese origin nouns. These are so commonplace in Japanese that they are now essentially thought of as native words.
- E.g. お電話 [Telephone]
- E.g. お料理 [Cooking]
- E.g. お時間 [Time]
- E.g. お勉強 [Study]
- E.g. お菓子 [Candy / Confectionary]
- (4) A handful of Chinese origin adjectives. These are also so commonplace that they are thought of as essentially native words.
- E.g. お上手 [Skillful]
- E.g. お元気 [Healthy]
- (1) All い-Adjectives that don’t begin with お
- Words that take ご:
Example Sentences:
石田先生は英語でお話しになった。[Professor Ishida spoke in English.]
私は昨日山崎先生にお会いした。[I met Prof. Yamazaki yesterday.]
今村さんはゴルフがお好きです。[Imamura-san likes golf.]
お飲み物は何がよろしいですか。[Would you you like to drink?]
田村先生は今とてもお忙しい。[Prof. Tamura is very busy now.]
宮本さんの奥さんはとてもおきれいだ。[Miyamoto-san’s wife is very pretty.]
野村さんからお電話がありました。[There was a phone call from Nomura-san.]
お昼ご飯はもう食べましたか。[Have you already eaten lunch?]
WILD Examples:
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